Gun Control
Today, one of the most highly debated topics is gun control. It seems as if after every mass shooting the first thing that is brought up is gun control. People on both sides of the spectrum argue in favor or against. But does America need more gun control? Is gun control the answer to the gun violence problem? The United States does not need any more gun control.
The United States has a strange addiction to guns that the rest of the world just does not understand. There are approximately 270,000,000 civilian owned firearms in the U.S. Almost one for every citizen. The term “gun culture” encompasses the attitude, feelings, behaviors, and beliefs about firearms in the United States. Gun ownership is protected to all U.S. citizens through the United States Bill of Rights. Firearms are widely used in the U.S. for many purposes: hunting, self-defense, shooting sports, and other recreational uses. Gun politics are often fought between two sides of people: gun control activists, and gun rights activists. Typically, gun control activists are more liberal, and gun rights activists are more conservative. These two groups generally disagree on the interpretation of gun laws and court cases defining these laws, as well as gun control on crime and public safety. The gun culture in the United States is often considered unique when compared to most developed countries. The large number of firearms privately owned by citizens, generally permissive regulations, and high levels of gun violence are not often seen in other developed countries. Guns and America Americans attitudes toward gun ownership date back to the American Revolutionary War, but the origins can be found amongst the first settlers of the North American continent. Many of these settlers had to hunt for food and use their firearms for protection against hostile Native Americans and wild animal attacks.
The hunting and sporting passion that exists today goes back to the first settlers. These settlers had to hunt for their own food to survive. For some, hunting for food was a profession, while for some firearms were simply used for protection against wild animals. A
The United States has always a gun and hunting culture starting from the birth of the country itself. The men who fought in the war of independence were citizens who owned their own muskets. However the issue of gun control can be traced back to the Civil War, as new African-American citizens needed to protect themselves from their previous owners in the south that would often hunt them down. The problematic of gun control have changed greatly due to the evolution of times. From the late twentieth century until today, gun control has been highly debated because of recurrent mass shootings, such as Columbine, such as Sandy Hook, such as Virginia Tech, such as San Bernardino, and such as Roseburg - just to name a few. Many have pleaded for thorough background checks to prevent convicts or the mentally handicapped from owning guns, while others argue that US citizens should follow in the steps of advanced European countries and no longer possess these lethal weapons. Others who are often leaning to the right argue that this a fundamental right that defines americanism and shapes American pride and historic culture. However recurrent mass shootings are nothing to be proud of.
Gun control should not exist at all in the United States. Mass shootings have almost become seen as normal event in the United States. What people do not understand is that gun control is not the answer; there are countries with little to no control that have fewer shootings. According to The Washington Post,Finland is ranked number 4 in countries with the most guns despite that they only had 24 homicides by firearm (“Gun homicides and ownership by countries” n.pag.) . In the article Did Gun Control Work In Australia “it is shown that gun control has reduced the problems but it still has not completely got rid of all firearm deaths”(Matthews n.pag.). The number of murders, homicides, or suicides do not go up due to people just owning more guns. Clayton Perry, a staff writer at the University of Maine, even points out “Stricter gun laws were in place during the Assault Weapons Ban between 1994 and 2004, but that didn't stop the shooters at Columbine in 1999 ”(Perry n. pag.). In Iceland, thirty out of a hundred people own a gun and they have zero homicides caused by guns a year(“Gun Homicides and ownership by country” n. pag.). In this day and age, everything is unpredictable, guns are a form of protection for everyone and there should not be restrictions on protection. The U.S. Department of Justice released a data brief that states, “ On average in 1987-92 about 83,000 crime victims per year used a firearm to defend themselves or their property”(Rand BJS Statistician n. pag.). The National Sheriffs Association released that the average police response time is at eighteen minutes while the average school shooting only last twelve minutes (“Embracing Technology To Decrease Response Time” n. pag.). Gun control should not exist because other countries do fine without it , high gun ownership has no link with increasing death rates , and guns are not harmful when instructions are followed.
School should be a place of peace and opportunity, but gaps in the system of gun control threatens the safety of faculty and students. School shootings have killed a total of 297 lives, young and old (Slate Magazine). Gun control has been a continuous nationwide debate for many years. It seems that no one wants to take a stance against guns unless they are personally affected. In order to take control of the matter and prevent more incidents from continuing schools need to change. To achieve a safe environment in schools need to educate faculty, safe and students, heighten security, and assess mental health issues.
Gun control is a very divisive subject in our country today. It is so divisive because some people really think they should be able to own their personal guns. However some people disagree with this. Over the last couple of years gun violence has been increasing dramatically. The United States leads the world for most mass shootings from 1966 to 2012 with 90 shootings.
Every so often the media and news feeds flood with reports of a mass shooting. Families mourn. In the days that follow, calls to action can be heard, and there is a demand for change. Sometimes minor legislation passes, but in the United States extreme change is rarely seen. Other developed nations provide an opposite comparison. Following the Port Arthur shooting in Australia and the shooting in Great Britain, both countries organized for significant gun reform.
This country has a mental health issue. We don't want to talk about it because it makes us look vulnerable. There is no law that can fix this, you could literally go door to door and take every single firearm in this country and we would still see tragedies like this occurring. We have a shit ton of people in this country and people like to kill each other, it's just the way this works for some reason. The reality of it is this; these public shooters are more or less a statistical anomaly. They're comparatively rare in a country where people constantly use illegally-acquired firearms to commit murders every day.
Guns have been around for a very long time. People love being able to have the freedom to do what they want, especially when they can possess something that make them feel superior. The introduction of the Second Amendment opens up the controversial, yet well anticipated opportunity for United State citizens to be able to own guns. Americans enjoy the benefit of being able to own guns for decades over people in other countries. People can buy guns and carry them around in public. They own guns for many reasons such as to hunt, to protect themselves, and simply to satisfy their desire of owning a gun, but in recent years, the issue of people carry guns has become a problem. There are so many people get killed by guns in different parts of
From 1988 to 2001, the usage of anti-depressant drugs in the general public increased by four-hundred percent (Swanson). The mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary took place in December of 2012, and during 2014, firearms were used in 88 percent of teen homicides, and 41 percent of teen suicides (“Suicidal Teens”). On February 28th, 2017, the Trump administration repealed a firearms regulation that prevented mentally disabled persons from owning guns. At the same time, teenage mental illness is on the rise, specifically in cases of depression and anxiety. A report from the Surgeon General shows that over 90 percent of adolescents that committed either suicide or homicide have or had a mental disability. Mental disabilities such as depression and anxiety put teenagers at a high risk for homicides and suicides. Teenagers who are stressed due to school, lack of parenting, puberty, bullying, and other factors can develop depression, anxiety or another mental illness. Allowing these teens easy access to firearms proves time and time again to be very dangerous. In some cases, the families of these teens have never been assessed to see if they can responsibly store firearms. The only background check performed is on the owner of the firearm, meaning that a person may own the weapon even if another family member living with them legally cannot. Loose gun control laws allow families with physiologically ill children to have access to firearms, without first checking to see if the disabled children in the home are responsible enough to be around said firearms. Repealing gun control laws instated by the Obama administration will cause an increase in adolescent firearm-related homicides, suicides, and tragedies similar to the one at Sandy Hook Elementary.
Gun violence has risen in America tremendously. According to the White House.com, Over the past decade in America, more than 100,000 people have been killed because of gun violence and millions more have been the victim of assaults, robberies, and other crimes involving a gun. (Office of the Press Secretary). The most recent case where a gun was used to carry out an act of violence was the Las Vegas shooting that took place on October 1st,2017. During a concert, perpetrator Stephen Paddock opened fire on to the crowd: 58 fatalities, leaving 546 injured, and then turning the gun on himself. This is only one of the many mass shootings that has risen the call for gun control. On The other hand, Citizens continue to fight for their right to
With the Second Amendment giving American citizens the rights to bear arms, and approximately fifty percent of Americans owning some form of a firearm, issues involving the ownership and possession of guns have led to heated debates in American society. Most
Carrying a gun is every American’s constitutional right until they lose their privilege to carry a firearm. There should be a strict law for everyone carrying gun in the United States or even purchasing a firearm. The second amendment was created in 1789 and revised in 1992, giving every American the right to bear arms. There are many example why some Americans have forfeited their right to bear arms. Just because a person servers in a specific field or has a job specific job in society doesn’t mean they should be automatically qualify to carry a gun. There should be boundaries and certain guidelines for anyone carrying a gun no matter their position, job description, or title they hold.
Should the nation have more strict laws and legislation about people owning guns? Would the new laws will help to decrease the number of mass shootings throughout the nation? I strongly believe that government should have more strict laws. Gun control does not mean that the government is going to outlaw guns but they will have better laws to ensure that citizens remain safe. Also, one of the advantages of gun control is that is will stop bad people from using weapons for to threat people since
I have had guns in my life since I was young. I served eight years in the military, and have shot in competitions for many years. I also love the outdoors, and enjoy the ability to put food on the table that is natural. I think the reasons for keeping the right to bear arms are so important that if the American people lost that right; it would mean life changes that many would be unwilling to make.
How many people have to die before this world will let go of these dangerous weapons? The Chinese invented gunpowder in the 9th century which lead to the creation of guns. A repeating firearm is a firearm that holds more that one cartridge and can be fired more than once between chargings. Gun control should be enforced more because it will help prevent violence, it can help stop crime, and although some people may argue that gun control should not be enforced because guns can help save people’s lives but they are wrong because people misuse guns.
The gun debate continues to raise eyebrows in America. And the main question is; why do American’s love guns? As always, there are two sides to every debate. In the expansive country that we live in, it’s quite understandable that there are going to be many different cultures and backgrounds in the mix. The debate over guns is no different. An example of these different views came into play debate between Representatives in 2000 between Adam Schiff (D. California) and Brad Carson(D. Oklahoma.) Both were asked a question about the gun issue in America, there responses were: